Ask MOHAI: Seattle has a history of cold-water swimming

A participant raises his arms during the annual Polar Bear Plunge at Matthews Beach on Lake Washington as hundreds of people plunged into the 46 degree water. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com) View more photos here.

Were you one of the hardy souls who took the frigid plunge on Jan. 1 in Seattle’s Ninth annual Polar Bear Plunge? The official website says that it began in January of 2003 in Seattle, but in fact, its beginnings go back over a hundred years. Taking a dip in cold waters wasn’t a new idea, but the promotion of swimming in icy waters for the sake of health can be traced to health guru Bernarr MacFadden (1868 – 1955), who founded the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, America’s first, in 1903.

MacFadden, who crowned himself the “Father of Physical Culture,” was publisher of a popular magazine, Physical Culture, and over 14 books. He wrote that he developed his “Physical Culture” methods in response to the pressures of the industrial world – inactivity, decreasing air quality, and poor food quality. These factors, he reported, contributed to blood impurities which caused diseases of the body and mind. Steps such as a largely vegetarian diet, regular exercise, enemas, and periodic fasting, would lead to pure blood and rigorous health.

His most bone-chilling assertion was that an icy dip could be a boon to one’s stamina, virility and immunity. An article in Physical Culture promised that “enabling the body to provide itself with good, warm, red blood, would mean that the frigid atmosphere and conditions that to the weak and anemic seem unendurable, would hold no terror.”

Undaunted, the members of the newly formed Western Washington “Polar Bear Club” met for the first time in 1914. Though initiates took the plunge in the somewhat more temperate waters of Quilcene, Seattle papers reported that residents of the city traveled the distance to participate. Locally, winter swimming enthusiasts took up swimming in Lake Washington.

Besides winter swimming, MacFadden’s influence can be found in health clubs of the day as well. The classifieds of local newspapers were filled with ads for “physical culture clubs.” MacFadden, who finally visited Seattle in 1912, came to offer separate lectures for women and men. His lecture for women, focused on physical training to become the “Perfect Woman” — wife, mother, and sexually available woman. His lecture for men was called “The Inner Secrets of Superb Manhood.” World-wide his message made him a millionaire, but there was controversy surrounding the sexual nature of his message. You have to remember this was at a time when it was scandalous to show bare skin above the ankles or to discuss sexuality in anything other than the most euphemistic of terms. Over the years as mores changed, these allegations were forgotten.

So with your beginning-of-the-new -year heightened resolve to train for next-year’s Polar Bear Plunge, or head to the gym and eat better, remember that you are one of but many generations of Seattleites to fight the battle of the bulge. We have visionary Bernarr MacFadden to thank for bringing a natural foods diet and regular exercise to the main stream, and for making those skimpy little workout duds all the rage.